<div class="css-s99gbd StoryBodyCompanionColumn" data-testid="companionColumn-0"><div class="css-53u6y8"><p class="css-at9mc1 evys1bk0">Days before the Fourth of July, an explosion at a warehouse storing fireworks in Northern California set off a dramatic pyrotechnics display along with flames and smoke, officials said.</p><p class="css-at9mc1 evys1bk0">The fire, in a largely rural area in Esparto, Calif., broke out around 5:50 p.m. Pacific on Tuesday, Curtis Lawrence, the chief of the Esparto Fire Protection District, said during a news briefing.</p><p class="css-at9mc1 evys1bk0">Officials did not give any information about injuries but said that multiple structures were on fire. As of Wednesday morning, the cause of the explosion was unknown.</p><p class="css-at9mc1 evys1bk0">When firefighting crews arrived on Tuesday evening, firefighters found “numerous explosions and numerous wildfires throughout the area,” Mr. Lawrence said. The fires covered about 80 acres, he said, but added that firefighters had those under control while crews battled the main blaze.</p></div><aside aria-label="companion column" class="css-ew4tgv"></aside></div><div data-testid="Dropzone-1"></div><div class="css-s99gbd StoryBodyCompanionColumn" data-testid="companionColumn-1"><div class="css-53u6y8"><p class="css-at9mc1 evys1bk0">“The fire will take time to cool, and once it does, explosive experts must safely enter the site to assess and secure the area,” the Yolo County Sheriff’s Office said in a statement on Tuesday night. The sheriff’s office urged people to avoid the area for at least several days.</p><p class="css-at9mc1 evys1bk0">The sheriff’s office announced a one-mile evacuation zone around the facility and urged people to avoid the area.</p><p class="css-at9mc1 evys1bk0">The sheriff’s office said that it was not “investigating anything criminal at this time,” but that California’s State Fire Marshal Arson and Bomb Unit was taking the lead in investigating the episode.</p></div><aside aria-label="companion column" class="css-ew4tgv"></aside></div><div data-testid="RelatedLinksBlock-3"><div data-testid="lazy-loader"></div></div>